Beskrivelse

Intended not for SF fans but for teens who don’t ordinarily choose science fiction, this anthology of stories about the future focuses on the timeless aspects of being human. It aims to suggest ideas about the future in a way readers who prefer real-life settings to strangeness will enjoy.This expanded edition of the original hardcover book iincludes stories by Shirley Rousseau Murphy, Carol Farley, Mildred Butler, Robert Pierik, and Rick Robersion in additiion to all of Sylvia Engdahl's short fiction.

Om forfatteren

Sylvia Engdahl is the author of ten science fiction novels. Though best known for her Young Adult novels, which are also enjoyed by many adult readers, most recently she has written four novels for adults: the Hidden Flame series and the RIsing Flame series.

Lignende

Once Noren gained admission to the City where technology was hidden, he thought he had discovered how to make metal and Machines available to everyone and end the rule of the Scholars. But he soon learned it was not as simple as he had believed. Was it right to let people go on believing in the promises of a Prophecy that might not come true after all?

Assigned as a observer to a world whose people may soon destroy their civilization, Anthropological Service agent Elana expects merely to gain knowledge that may save other planets. When a young, inexperienced agent unwittingly endangers the entire world by a well-meant but ill-advised attempt to intervene, Elana finds that only she--at great cost--can prevent an immediate war of annihilation.

Although this book has the same heroine as Enchantress from the Stars, it is an independent story for much older readers and should not be considered a sequel.

Melinda Ashley has a plan for her life, and a trip to Mars isn't part of it. When she receives a ticket on a spaceliner as a high school graduation gift from her dad, who has business there, she is stunned and has no desire to accompany him. But she has longed for a chance to get to know her dad, whom she has seldom seen, and she's furious when her fiance tries to forbid her from going. She doesn't expect to enjoy the weeks aboard the ship, but her outlook begins to change when she meets Alex Preston, a second-generation Martian colonist who is going home after college on Earth. Alex believes settling Mars is important. He's looking forward to the role he expects to play in the colony's future. Melinda finds this hard to understand, yet she is more and more drawn to him and, while on Mars, to his family. Torn between what she has always wanted and upsetting new feelings, she wonders if she can ever again be content. Ultimately, after she has faced tragedy and sorrow, a terrifying experience on the Martian moon Phobos shows Melinda what really matters to her.

Three hundred people, isolated on a raw new planet in the hope that their psi powers will become the foundation of a culture that can someday shape the future of humankind. If they don't starve first. If they don't lose heart in the face of hardships beyond any they imagined. And if their kids can be reared to believe in the dream and and advance both their technology and their psi powers from one generation to the next.

Starship Captain Jesse Sanders hasn't expected to be responsible for the settlement. Peter is the leader, the visionary on whose inspiration they all depend. But Peter has his hands full, not only with maintaining morale but with grueling ordeals of his own. So the job of ensuring the colony's survival falls on Jesse. And in the end, he must stake his life in a desperate attempt to prevent the loss of all they have gained.

This is a sequel to "Stewards of the Flame," but it can be read independently. Unlike Engdahl's other earlier novels, it is not a YA book and is not appropriate for middle-school readers.

Noren had found faith in the Prophecy's fulfillment in the face of overwhelming odds. Yet the more he learned of the grim truth about his people's situation, the less possible it seemed that their world could ever be changed. It would take more drastic steps than anyone imagined to restore their rightful heritage--and he alone could do what was needed.

Starship pilot Terry Radnor is puzzled and outraged when he is suddenly recalled from interstellar exploration and then, just when he has become involved in a secret project offering him extraordinary physical and psychic capabilities, he is transferred to a cruiser for a tour of duty he expects to hate. But the cruiser's mission proves to be unlike anything he could have imagined. Advancing rapidly in his career, Terry finds fulfillment in love and in commitment to a cause—until an ironic twist of fate tears him away from everything he cares about. He is forced to build a whole new life, far from all that has previously mattered to him. Is there any hope that he can fulfill his pledge to protect the world whose safety is crucial--more crucial than anyone else knows--to the future of humankind?

While this novel follows Stewards of the Flame and Promise of the Flame, it begins a separate series that doesn't depend on having read them. Unlike Sylvia Engdahl's other previous novels, it is not a Young Adult book and is not appropriate for middle-school readers.

Through a strange turn of fate Terry Steward, born Terry Radnor, was in the right place at the right time to save the secret colony Maclairn from terrorists who would have destroyed its plan to spread advanced mind powers to Earth and the other worlds of humankind. Now with his own starship Estel, he sets out to further that plan by journeying from world to world, heralding the hopeful future about which he alone knows the full truth. Yet he is all too aware that Maclairn’s enemies still pose a threat, and that on Earth the persecution of people who develop such powers is increasing. Soon targeted by bounty hunters, Terry can see no way to combat a planet-wide conspiracy—nor does he guess that if he lives long enough, he is destined for an even greater role in human history than he has played as a defender of Maclairn's cause.

This is the second book in the Rising Flame series. The first, Defender of the Flame, should be read before this one, but these two can be read independently of the preceding Hidden Flame series, Stewards of the Flame and Promise of the Flame, which are set more than two centuries earlier.

Why is the colonization of space important? Why has the general public lost interest in space since the Apollo era? What does pop-culture science fiction reveal about our society's attutudes toward space? And what other future developments, such as growing understanding of "paranormal" human abilities, will represent major evolutionary advances for our species?

These are some of the questions discussed by Sylvia Engdahl in this collection of often-controversial essays, many of which are available at her website but which because of their length will be easier to read in ebook form. Her views on the current issues she raises will spark debate among readers, whether or not they are familiar with any of her novels.

While Engdahl is best known for her award-winning Young Adult novel <i>Enchantress from the Stars</i>, she is the author of nine other science fiction novels--four of them for adults and five more enjoyed by both teens and adults--as well as the nonfiction book <i>The Planet-Girded Suns: The Long History of Belief in Exoplanets.</i> Also popular are the space section of her website and her page www.spacequotes.com. But as this collection reveals, space is not the only topic about which she has strong feelings.

The book contains 25 essays, previously-published or new, among them one listing her opinions about various common predictions. In addition it includes two illustrated autobiographical essays and a complete bibliography of her work.

At the height of Christmas shopping in the downtown plaza, two superheroes create havoc as they unleash their powers. Bolt and Accel, tear apart the plaza as they smash cars, shops and restaurants to rumble and ruin in their desire to destroy their rival in love for Psy, a female superhero. The happy Christmas spirit is replaced with ultra violence, chaos and fear.

The General flies in to stop them with the rest of the superhero unit of Flame, Amazon and Psy.

But they are too late. Bolt's and Accel's actions, through an incidental event, have unleashed an unstoppable terrifying power.

First in the superhero series of books featuring the mysterious Subject Zero.

Other stories in the 'Wrong Place, Wrong Time' Science Fiction series

#2 Halloween Party

Sarah Hargreaves is walking through the emerging dawn streets after another night’s work, when she is bundled into the back of a van by six figures dressed in black. She is taken to an underground location, where she is interviewed by a smartly dressed woman and a man from a secret organisation. They have one question:

‘What really happened at the Halloween Party three weeks ago?’

Sarah is forced to retell the terrifying truth. She is an experienced member of Dark Watch, an organisation set up to eliminate the threat from the creatures of the night. On the hunt for a vampire cell, she and her new boyfriend get an invitation to a Halloween Party – the Vampire Special. She suspects that humans will be lulled to their deaths. What happens at the party surprises even her.

#3 Wedding Anniversary

Hiding in time a superhero, Subject Zero, enjoys the delights of the wild west; the women, the drink and the fighting. After another night of fun, Zero is alerted to the presence of another time traveller who has sought him out across time and space. The traveller is his wife he hasn’t seen for fifty years. She has come to remind him it's their Wedding Anniversary. They discuss old times together and make plans for a reconciliation in the future.

Zero is happy, until a massive time disturbance breaks the peace and Zero and his wife are forced to reveal their true powers to the inhabitants of the wild west town.

The Shades of Gray series follows the adventures of Kat and Kim. Start by reading the first book of this serial series #1 Shades of Gray: Noir, City Shrouded By Darkness and be introduced to this world of danger and mystery and as an extra bonus, enjoy the second book #2 Shades of Gray: From Moscow, With Love.

**Shades of Gray #1 Noir, City Shrouded By Darkness

Noir was a mega-city plagued by a sun blocking mass called Dry Clouds that had mysteriously appeared three decades earlier. The Dry Clouds covered half the planet and forced those living under them to exist in endless night. On this world, corporations were in charge and breaking your contract with them could mean the termination of your life.

Kimberly Griffin, a Life Closer (legal assassin) existed in a world of death. She Closed people for a living. It was a lonely demeaning existence, though she wouldn't admit it. There was nothing to drive her in the bleak reality until one day she ran into Kat.

Kat, also known as the Pandora Project, was hunted by bio-mechas (robots) called Un-Men (androids). She was an experiment of the Sphinx Corporation, and they were testing her to see if she could be the ultimate weapon. Kat refused to be a killer and tried to discover the truth behind her existence. Could she be a new form of bio-mecha?

Kim discovered someone close to her had been murdered. Is Kat the key to finding out who did it? Or will her association with Kat only cause her more grief?

Pandora of ancient times opened a box and let all good escape. Would Pandora be the hope the planet needed? Or would she destroy the world?

**Shades of Gray #2 From Moscow, With Love- bonus first half included.

Worlds collide . . . A shaky partnership . . .

In the second book of the Shades of Gray series, Kat found herself teamed up with Kim. Together they searched for clues to their past. Their partnership stood on shaky ground though. Kim, a Life Closer (legal assassin) known as the Phoenix, needed Kat for the moment, to help in her search for her mother's murder. Once Kim no longer needed Kat, would the Phoenix go through with eliminating her for knowing she's a Life Closer?

A haunting melody . . . A forgotten time . . .

Kat had discovered little about her past. Over a year ago, she woke to a world of endless night and had no memory of who she was. A music box, a letter, and a gun were her only clues. Kat discovered the melody the music box plays, put her in a trance and healed her body of any injures. Why? She didn't't know.

Betrayal . . . A desperate fight . . .

Voice, the one who regulated the Phoenix, had sent the Raven and the Wolf to Close her. Why? Kim didn't't know, only that she must eliminate the two Life Closers before they terminated her.

Deception . . . The two women collide again . . .

Kat was caught up in the struggle as the Raven and the Wolf were also hired to Close the sister of someone dear to her. Now she must protect the sister and Kim, but the Phoenix was hiding a dark secret that put the sister in an even deadlier predicament. What was Kim hiding?

I will protect them all . . . No one will die today . . .

Could Kat and Kim defeat the two Closers? Could Kat keep the promise to herself that no one else would die? What would happen in the end when Kat discovered the Phoenix's secret?

An omnibus edition containing the complete trilogy This Star Shall Abide (known in the UK as Heritage of the Star), Beyond the Tomorrow Mountains, and The Doors of the Universe.

Noren knew that his world was not as it should be--it was wrong that only the Scholars, and their representatives the Technicians, could use metal tools and Machines. It was wrong that only they had access to the mysterious City, which he had always longed to enter. Above all, it was wrong for the Scholars to have sole power over the distribution of knowledge. The High Law imposed these restrictions and many others, though the Prophecy promised that someday knowledge and Machines would be available to everyone. Noren was a heretic. He defied the High Law and had no faith in the Prophecy's fulfillment. But the more he learned of the grim truth about his people's deprivations, the less possible it seemed that their world could ever be changed. It would take more drastic steps than anyone imagined to restore their rightful heritage.

Although these three novels were originally published in hardcover as Young Adult books, the second and third are primarily of interest to older teens and adults; the omnibus editions have therefore been issued as adult science fiction.

Noren knew that his world was not as it should be--it was wrong that only the Scholars, and their representatives the Technicians, could use metal tools and Machines. It was wrong that only they had access to the mysterious City, which he had always longed to enter. Above all, it was wrong for the Scholars to have sole power over the distribution of knowledge. The High Law imposed these restrictions and many others, though the Prophecy promised that someday knowledge and Machines would be available to everyone. Noren was a heretic. He defied the High Law and had no faith in the Prophecy's fulfillment. But was defiance enough, or could some way be found to make it come true?

This classic science fiction novel is enjoyed by readers age 12 and up as well as by older teens and adults who go on to read the other two books in the Children of the Star trilogy. Originally published in hardcover by Atheneum in the US and by Gollancz in the UK under the title Heritage of the Star, it was the winner of a Christopher Award given for "affirmation of the highest values of the human spirit.".

Melinda Ashley has a plan for her life, and a trip to Mars isn't part of it. When she receives a ticket on a spaceliner as a high school graduation gift from her dad, who has business there, she is stunned and has no desire to accompany him. But she has longed for a chance to get to know her dad, whom she has seldom seen, and she's furious when her fiance tries to forbid her from going. She doesn't expect to enjoy the weeks aboard the ship, but her outlook begins to change when she meets Alex Preston, a second-generation Martian colonist who is going home after college on Earth. Alex believes settling Mars is important. He's looking forward to the role he expects to play in the colony's future. Melinda finds this hard to understand, yet she is more and more drawn to him and, while on Mars, to his family. Torn between what she has always wanted and upsetting new feelings, she wonders if she can ever again be content. Ultimately, after she has faced tragedy and sorrow, a terrifying experience on the Martian moon Phobos shows Melinda what really matters to her.

Why is the colonization of space important? Why has the general public lost interest in space since the Apollo era? What does pop-culture science fiction reveal about our society's attutudes toward space? And what other future developments, such as growing understanding of "paranormal" human abilities, will represent major evolutionary advances for our species?

These are some of the questions discussed by Sylvia Engdahl in this collection of often-controversial essays, many of which are available at her website but which because of their length will be easier to read in ebook form. Her views on the current issues she raises will spark debate among readers, whether or not they are familiar with any of her novels.

While Engdahl is best known for her award-winning Young Adult novel <i>Enchantress from the Stars</i>, she is the author of nine other science fiction novels--four of them for adults and five more enjoyed by both teens and adults--as well as the nonfiction book <i>The Planet-Girded Suns: The Long History of Belief in Exoplanets.</i> Also popular are the space section of her website and her page www.spacequotes.com. But as this collection reveals, space is not the only topic about which she has strong feelings.

The book contains 25 essays, previously-published or new, among them one listing her opinions about various common predictions. In addition it includes two illustrated autobiographical essays and a complete bibliography of her work.

Three hundred people, isolated on a raw new planet in the hope that their psi powers will become the foundation of a culture that can someday shape the future of humankind. If they don't starve first. If they don't lose heart in the face of hardships beyond any they imagined. And if their kids can be reared to believe in the dream and and advance both their technology and their psi powers from one generation to the next.

Starship Captain Jesse Sanders hasn't expected to be responsible for the settlement. Peter is the leader, the visionary on whose inspiration they all depend. But Peter has his hands full, not only with maintaining morale but with grueling ordeals of his own. So the job of ensuring the colony's survival falls on Jesse. And in the end, he must stake his life in a desperate attempt to prevent the loss of all they have gained.

This is a sequel to "Stewards of the Flame," but it can be read independently. Unlike Engdahl's other earlier novels, it is not a YA book and is not appropriate for middle-school readers.

Through a strange turn of fate Terry Steward, born Terry Radnor, was in the right place at the right time to save the secret colony Maclairn from terrorists who would have destroyed its plan to spread advanced mind powers to Earth and the other worlds of humankind. Now with his own starship Estel, he sets out to further that plan by journeying from world to world, heralding the hopeful future about which he alone knows the full truth. Yet he is all too aware that Maclairn’s enemies still pose a threat, and that on Earth the persecution of people who develop such powers is increasing. Soon targeted by bounty hunters, Terry can see no way to combat a planet-wide conspiracy—nor does he guess that if he lives long enough, he is destined for an even greater role in human history than he has played as a defender of Maclairn's cause.

This is the second book in the Rising Flame series. The first, Defender of the Flame, should be read before this one, but these two can be read independently of the preceding Hidden Flame series, Stewards of the Flame and Promise of the Flame, which are set more than two centuries earlier.

Interest in extrasolar worlds is not new. From the late 17th century until the end of the 19th, almost all educated people believed that the stars are suns surrounded by inhabited planets--a belief that was expressed not in science fiction, but in serious speculation, both scientific and religious, as well as in poetry. Only during the first half of the 20th century was it thought that life-bearing extrasolar planets are rare.

This is not a science book--rather, it belongs to the category known as History of Ideas. First published by Atheneum in 1974, it tells the story of the rise, fall, and eventual renewal of widespread conviction that we are not alone in the universe. In this updated edition the chapters dealing with modern views have been revised to reflect the progress science has made during the past 40 years, including the actual detection of planets orbiting other stars.

More poetry from past centuries, source notes, and an extensive bibliography have been added to this edition. In addition it contains a new Afterword, "Confronting the Universe in the Twenty-First Century," discussing the relevance of past upheavals in human thought to an understanding of the hiatus in space exploration that has followed the Apollo moon landings.

Assigned as a observer to a world whose people may soon destroy their civilization, Anthropological Service agent Elana expects merely to gain knowledge that may save other planets. When a young, inexperienced agent unwittingly endangers the entire world by a well-meant but ill-advised attempt to intervene, Elana finds that only she--at great cost--can prevent an immediate war of annihilation.

Although this book has the same heroine as Enchantress from the Stars, it is an independent story for much older readers and should not be considered a sequel.

Starship pilot Terry Radnor is puzzled and outraged when he is suddenly recalled from interstellar exploration and then, just when he has become involved in a secret project offering him extraordinary physical and psychic capabilities, he is transferred to a cruiser for a tour of duty he expects to hate. But the cruiser's mission proves to be unlike anything he could have imagined. Advancing rapidly in his career, Terry finds fulfillment in love and in commitment to a cause—until an ironic twist of fate tears him away from everything he cares about. He is forced to build a whole new life, far from all that has previously mattered to him. Is there any hope that he can fulfill his pledge to protect the world whose safety is crucial--more crucial than anyone else knows--to the future of humankind?

While this novel follows Stewards of the Flame and Promise of the Flame, it begins a separate series that doesn't depend on having read them. Unlike Sylvia Engdahl's other previous novels, it is not a Young Adult book and is not appropriate for middle-school readers.

Crime is considered illness, untreated illness is crime; ambulance crews are the only police. Dead bodies stay on "life support" forever. Can anyone gain freedom? When burned-out starship captain Jesse Sanders is seized by a dictatorial medical regime and detained on the colony planet Undine, he has no idea that he is about to be plunged into a bewildering new life that will involve ordeals and joys beyond anything he has ever imagined, as well as the love of a woman with powers that seem superhuman. Still less does he suspect that he must soon take responsibility for the lives of people he has come to care about and the preservation of their hopes for the future of humankind. Winner of a bronze medal in the Independent Publisher (IPPY) Book Awards, this controversial novel deals with government-imposed health care, end-of-life issues, and the so-called paranormal powers of the human mind. Despite being set in the distant future on another world, it appeals not only to science fiction readers but to others who question the dominant medical philosophy of today's society, or who value personal freedom of choice. This is the first book of the Hidden Flame series and is followed by "Promise of the Flame." They precede the Rising Flame series, consisting of "Defender of the Flame" and "Herald of the Flame." Unlike Sylvia Engdahl's previous novels, these two series are not Young Adult books and are not appropriate for middle-school readers.